Bless Everything…

Lately I’ve been going back and re-reading the work of some spiritual writers who influenced me when I was young. Right now I’m in the middle of Catherine Ponder’s Prosperity Secrets of the Ages, and in Chapter Two she cites one of my favorite quotations from Emmet Fox (quoted from its original source, Power through Constructive Thinking, published by Harper & Row):

“Bless a thing and it will bless you.  Curse it and it will curse you.  If you put your condemnation upon anything in life, it will hit back at you and hurt you.  If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.”

These are such powerful words.

How often in my life I have struggled against a circumstance, condemned it by words like, “I hate this. This is terrible. Damn this situation.”  The more I labeled it as bad, the more the circumstance seemed to strengthen and hold me tightly in its grip.

Then, when I realized my error thinking, and instead accepted the fact that everything in my life, whether I judge it good or bad, holds a gift for me, I would gradually be released.  As I began to bless the circumstance, it would change.  Whatever, or whoever was bothering me would either change, or would simply and easily move out of my consciousness and my life.

It all goes back to that unshakable truth: whatever we notice grows stronger.  If I give my attention to anything, it will increase in my life.  It doesn’t matter if that attention is negative or positive.

Right now one of my closest friends is dying.  For twenty-five years, she has been an important part of my life, and it is hard to let her go.

She has long been one of my spiritual role models.  For three years she has fought hard to stay alive, but when it became clear a couple of weeks ago that it was time to stop fighting, she changed her focus.  Now she is living each day fully, getting weaker in body but sharing love and humor and telling stories with all her family and friends.  She is only human, and at times she is angry.  But she is constantly transforming that anger into love and faith, trusting God that good is coming for her, for her husband and children and grandchildren, for all of us who love her.  She is blessing every day, and blessing her current circumstances.  She is passing from this life in peace and dignity, even joy.

Is there something in your life you’re fighting?  Are you locked in a struggle against a circumstance or a person that seems to have you in a stranglehold?  Try something new.  Bless it, then as much as you can, let it go.  Every time you feel the anger and the frustration and hopelessness come up inside you, bless it again.

I promise you it will transform your life.